#Like how Lex puts his initials on everything?!

[pseudo-hero]

In the same spirit as the bottom of my "Comics!Clex Plot Connection?" post, here's another (sort of serious) Clex/SuperTie Translation:

Lex Luthor: "You and I could make a pretty lovin—I mean, great pair, I think. A wonderful not-couple. Don't you think? Pretty please say you do! We could save each other."

Superman: *Pretends to not have already made up his mind* "Listen Lex, I want to be able to hold you believe in you so badly...which is why I came here to ask you...if you would be...my partner in stopping crime?"

Lex Luthor: "...What...? Oh...! I thought you'd never ask! I mean—I knew you'd eventually come around to see things my way...my love."

[beeslibrarycorner]

Smut concept

Warnings: MDNI, wearing panties, oral, prostate massage, gags, a bit of voyerism

It started as a joke during dinner the night before. That was until you found Felix admiring himself with a raging hard on with a pair of your satiny lacy panties on, Ollie was naked and eyeing him like prey.

There was a splotch of precum and the fabric was straining to keep everything concealed. When he saw you watching him at the doorway you saw his dick twitch with delight.

“I like the way they feel against my skin” he said sheepishly and when you raised an eyebrow and started moving towards him his skin flushed red. “You look very pretty Lex” you say as you gently cup him knowingly and he moans and thrusts into your hand.

“The fabric feels so fucking good, is this why you have so many of them” Felix asked and by the way his voice was getting you could tell he was getting himself worked up and very very close. “Yes honey this is exactly why I have so many of them, they feel so good after I shaved and my skin is moisturized.” You explained with a glint in your eyes.

“Maybe we should buy him some of his own, looks like he’s enjoying himself a lot” Oliver pipped up teasing him and you could see the look on Felixes face, a look of revenge. “That’s a good idea” you say turning to him while you’re working Felix over. “We should get him different types of panties for him to explore with” you say and you felt Felix curl into you and keen.

He came into your hand, shuddering and moaning unintelligibly. When all was said and done Felix thanked you took the panties off and walked over to Oliver balling them up and shoving the cum soaked fabric into his mouth.

“I think we should buy Ollie a gag for moments just like these, what do you think?” Felix asks you as he sits down next to Oliver and pushes him on the bed. He pulls him to the center and spreads his legs, spits onto his fingers and starts working on his tight hole.

The muffled moan that comes out of him makes you bite you lips and you start to crawl over to the two of them on the bed. You lay down on your tummy and put Oliver’s cock in your mouth.

Oliver screams and thrusts his hips into your mouth. “Good girl for taking the initiative sweetheart” Felix said petting your hair. Oliver keens and curls in on himself when Felix finds his prostate and starts massaging it.

Oliver opens his mouth wider around the panties but no sound comes out, you start sucking harder and you could feel Felix start to jackhammer his fingers into that one specific spot. You feel Oliver grab at your hand and you squeeze it and hold on so he stays grounded.

Oliver cums hard, the sounds he’s making almost sound pained as cum floods your mouth. There’s so much cum in fact that it’s leaking out of your mouth. Your lips at the base of his cock feel that that little muscle near his balls kicking with each spirt of hot white pleasure.

You swallow what you can and detach for air. When you looked at your two lover you see that Oliver is gagless and has become limp and Felix is licking up anything that has leaked out of your mouth from the skin of Oliver’s tummy.

When they look at you all you were left with were two men looking hungrily at you. You became very aware of how wet you were and you couldn’t help but blush at them.

“What’s the matter love cat got your tongue?” Oliver asks and you could see him smirk. “We should return the favor since you made the both of us cum so hard” Felix said with a hand on your thigh and a look that meant a very very long night for you.

And what a night it was.

[cardcaptorsakura96]

Finding Each Other-Chapter 3

Fandom: Superman, Batman, Shazam, and Wonder Woman

Characters: Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Dick Grayson, Diana Prince, Billy Batson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Kara Zor El, Damian Wayne, Cassandra Cain, Alfred Pennyworth, Lex Luthor, Jonathan Kent, Connor Kent

Summary: Clark Kent always knew he wanted a family. He just always thought it would be traditional like his parents. Little did he know that destiny had something different in store for him.

Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Clark followed B and Dick out to a white Rolls-Royce. B went to the passenger door and opened it for Clark and said, “After you.” 

Clark blushed and said, “You really didn’t have to do that.”

B smirked and said, “But I insist.”

Dick giggled as he got into the back seat of the car and said, “You guys are funny.”

Clark blushed harder as B chuckled as he went to the driver’s side and got in. The distance between the museum and Bruce home was short. They were only in the car for ten minutes chatting some more about Atlantis when Clark just stared at the scene before him with his mouth wide open. Bruce had initially stopped at a gate. Once he put in a code, it opened to the most beautiful scenery that Clark had ever seen. It was a mansion. The biggest mansion that Clark had ever seen. He wouldn’t be surprised if it had over 100 ones inside. While the outside had a dark gothic look, it was counterbalanced by the assortment of beautiful flowers on the outside as well. The flowers did make the mansion appear less threatening. 

B smirked and said, “You seemed surprised.”

Clark chuckled and said, “Well, I have never seen a mansion so big so far.”

B chuckled and said, “That is refreshing to know.”

Clark looked at B confused and asked, “How so?”

B smiled and said, “I am used to people either trying to play it cool when they come here or being self-important. However, you are different. You seemed to be very much in awe of the place.”

Clark chuckled and said, “It is not hard too. Not only is the size incredible, but the gothic feel combined with the flowers, make it appear welcoming.”

B chuckled and said, “That would be my mother’s doing. When she moved here, she hated the place because it reminded her of the TV show Dark Shadows.”

Clark chuckled and said, “That is a show I haven’t heard of in a long while.”

B looked at him startled and asked, “So you are familiar?” 

Clark smiled and said, “I used to watch the old episodes with my Pa. It had everything I liked in fantasy: vampires, witches, love, and death. It was quite thrilling.”

B looked at Clark impressed and said, “I haven’t met that many people my age that have seen it before.” 

Clark sighed and said, “I am not surprised. It is from a while ago. I wished the movie they did recently did it justice.”

B sighed and said, “I couldn’t agree more.” B shook his head with a wistful smile and said, “My mother used to joke that she thought that Barnabas Collins haunted the grounds and would come out to get her.”

Clark raised an eyebrow and asked, “Really?”

B nodded while smiling and said, “My dad thought it was funny at first, but seeing how scared out of her mind she was decided to redirect her focus to something positive. He suggested gardening which she took to like drinking water. She planted so many flowers of different colors to liven up the place.” B’s face fell a bit before wiping off a tear from her eyes and said, “I wish you could have met her. She was a very lovely and gentle soul.” 

Clark didn’t know what to say to that but decided to gently squeeze B’s hand who smiled back in appreciation. As they continued up the driveway, they finally got up to the front of the mansion after a couple of minutes. When Clark looked up, the front door was open with a man already standing there in a three-piece black suit. He seemed like an older gentleman either in his late 60s or early 70s. Dick instantly got out of the car and ran ahead of them to the older gentleman and instantly embraced him in a hug. 

The man smiled and said, “Master Dick, it is nice to see you too. I take it you and your dad had a good time?”

Dick looked up at the older gentleman, smiled, and said, “We had the best time, Alfie! We learned about Atlantis and I got cool stuff from the gift shop.” Dick instantly opened the bag and showed the older gentleman its contents. 

The older gentleman chuckled and said, “I see you are adding more to your Superman collection.”

Dick smiled and said, “Yup.” Dick looked back to Clark and B coming up right behind him on the stairs and then directed the older gentleman’s direction to Clark and said, “Oh! We made a new friend tonight too, Clark. He has a lot of awesome ideas about Atlantis.”

The older gentleman smiled at Clark and said, “I see.” He raised his hand to shake Clark’s and said, “My name is Alfred Pennyworth. It is nice to meet you.”

Clark shook Alfred’s hand and said, “It is nice to meet you.”

B smiled and said, “Alfred is my adopted father after my parents died.”

Clark smiled and said, “You raised a fine young man.”

Alfred chuckled and said, “Heavens know that it was a struggle, but I believe everything turned out good in the end.”

B chuckled and said, “Alfred is putting it mildly. I was a little hell raiser.”

Clark smirked and said, “I still can’t imagine that.”

Alfred smirked and said, “He used to get into a lot of mischief growing up. However, I wouldn’t trade it for anything for the world.”

B smiled softly and said, “Thanks, Alfred.”

Alfred placed a gentle hand on B and smiled. Clark's heart warmed at the sight of the love between the two. 

Alfred cleared his throat and said, “Well, let’s not keep you all outside.”

As they entered the foyer, Alfred asked, “Shall I get you guys anything?”

B shook his head and said, “I was just going to make us sandwiches. I thought we could have chips and ice cream with it for dessert.”

Alfred nodded and said, “Very well. I will be upstairs in my room reading if you need anything.”

Alfred proceeded to head up to the staircase a couple of feet in front of him while B and Dick started to head down the hall to the right with Clark following right behind them. After walking for a couple of minutes, they entered a brightly lit kitchen. B went to the fridge while Clark and Dick sat at the kitchen island. 

As B looked through the fridge, he said, “Clark, if you could have any sandwich right now, what would it be?”

Clark looked up thoughtfully and said, “A roast beef sandwich on white bread.”

B nodded and said, “Coming right up. Did you have any preferences for toppings?”

Clark smiled and said, “If you have mayo, cheddar cheese, and lettuce, that would be awesome! If not, the roast beef and bread will be fine.”

B chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, I got you covered. The best parts of the sandwich are the toppings. I tend to be more into honey mustard fan myself when it comes to toppings.”

B brought over all the ingredients to the kitchen island. 

B looked up at Dick and asked, “I assume that you are wanting your usual?”

Dick nodded enthusiastically and asked, “Can I have the sour cream and onion chips too?” 

B nodded and said, “They should be in the pantry. Do you mind getting them out and the BBQ flavored chips and…” B turned to Clark and asked, “Was there a particular flavor of chips you preferred?”

Clark smiled and said, “I am actually a big fan of sour creme and onion, especially the ones from Pringles.”

Dick smiled and said, “Those are my favorite too even though Lay’s sour creme and onion is a close second.”

Clark nodded and said, “I couldn’t agree with you more.”

Dick beamed and said, “I’ll go get the chips. I’ll be right back.”

Read the rest on AO3

[spandexinspace]

Hello if you have the time simply put who are brainiacs family members.. and like how are they related? I never knew he had relations of any kind but im picking up the house of brainiac event but twitter has pushed me down a rabbit hole and now im trying to piece together brainiacs family tree. I am in no way an expert in comics or well read in anything im searching things up but idk what different universes/ dimensions/ timelines mean and who/what is canon. thx 💜

So I made this family tree a few years, which is still largely accurate but I still kinda want to remake at some point. Still, a decent visualiser for now.

I think it's important to note that we don't really know what is and isn't canon right now. We will probably have a better idea of it come June-July, but at the moment everything is a little all over the place and it may also remain that way. Comics.

The ones we know are relevant to Williamson's story are Brainiac and, as per the most recent issue, the pre-Zero Hour version of Brainiac 5. I'm also reasonably certain we'll see Vril II and Brainiac 3.

But, the full-ish list:

Kaja Dox and her unnamed mother - Appeared in Humphries' Green Lanterns in a story set "10 billion years ago". We don't actually know if they're supposed to be related to the others, but we can probably assume as much.

Brainiac/Vril Dox (I) - Big man himself. You know him. Man of many faces and origins. Brainiac 12 and 13 are upgraded versions of him.

Vril Dox II - Brainiac's son. Initially adopted, later either a biological son or clone artificially aged into adulthood. In both versions granted as a boon to Brainiac by Colu's machine overlords.

Techne - Brainiac's clone daughter as introduced during Convergence. Maybe canon. Maybe not the child of the main universe's Brainiac.

Unnamed siblings - Techne had several mutated siblings who Brainiac appeared to have used for experiments. The same has been implied to be true for Vril. They're dead.

Project Alien Farm - A clone made out of Brainiac and Lex Luthor's DNA, probably meant to be a parallell to Superboy/Kon El. Had the misfortune of being born a few months before Flashpoint and hasn't been seen since.

Indigo/Brainiac 8 - An artificial being supposedly created by Brainiac 6 to go back in time to aid Brainiac in his mission. We've never seen Brainiac 6 in canon and she kind of just existed in her own corner with the Outsiders and Titans.

Pran Dox - Formerly the son of Vril Dox II. Only ever appeared in narration, we can assume he doesn't exist now.

Lyrl Dox/Brainiac 3 - The more canon son of Vril Dox II.

This is where things get a little spicy timeline-wise. There are essentially five different versions of the future of the DC universe. Each one is its own universe, but has been the canon future of the main universe before. Like this:

The first timeline is the pre-Zero Hour version, the second the post-Zero Hour/Earth-247, the third Earth-Prime, the fourth is an divergent version of the pre-Zero Hour, and the fourth is post-Rebirth. These characters exist within these timelines:

Kajz Dox (both versions of the pre-Zero Hour timeline) - The son of either Lyrl or Pran. Both have been canon.

Brainiac 4 (post-Zero Hour/Earth-247) - An unnamed female child of Lyrl.

Unnamed female Coluan (Earth-Prime) - A character who appeared for two pages in one comic. Probably Lyrl's daughter.

Post-Rebirth lacks a version of Brainiac 4. Among other things.

Querl Dox/Brainiac 5 - Exists in every timeline/universe. The great-great-grandson of Brainiac, by various means.

There are a couple of other characters who can sort of be considered members of the family, but they're not super relevant at this stage.

I don't know how understandable all that is, feel free to shoot me another ask if you want me to clarify anything.

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

Succession AU Thoughts Pt 4

Been thinking about how Lex will be all 'oh my sweet baby sister is safe! I was so worried!' after the abduction, until eventually Lionel puts the pieces together and calls him on it. And Lex will initially try to obfuscate but ultimately drops the pretense.

"Well, it worked, didn't it?"

He doesn't even see the fist that cracks against his jaw, sending him sprawling backwards onto the couch.

"You dare!" Lionel roars, furious. "You would endanger your own sister?!"

"Jesus," Lex hisses. "There was never any danger, pop. I had everything under control--"

"CONTROL! You hired thugs to lay hands on your sister. On your family!"

"I didn't do anything you wouldn't do--!"

"She is your family! Your family is all you've got, boy. It has always, always been us against the world. The strength and safety of this family has always been paramount! And yet you pull a stunt like this..."

"What was I supposed to do?" Lex blusters. "She was going to squeeze me out, I wasn't about to take it lying down--"

"Then you rally your allies, shore up your defenses, plan your countermove! Just like I taught you! You do NOT abduct and drug your sister to keep her out of play."

Lionel draws himself up, smoothing down his ruffled hair and straighting his collar.

"I thought I raised two intelligent, responsible children. But it seems I raised only one. You're a fucking coward, Alexander."

"What? Dad--"

"When your sister was going to blast you into oblivion, at least she had the cajones to do it to your face, instead of skulking about in the shadows, as you have."

Lex scoffs. "Oh, come on--"

"I've let you run amok for too long, son. That ends today." Lionel looks down his nose at Lex. "You're out. Lena is in."

That earns a laugh. "Right."

"Oh, and I mean you're out of everything. No more board, no more operations, no more inheritance." Lionel steps in Lex's space, glaring imperiously down at his son.

"You played your last hand-- and you've still lost."

[thevindicativevordan]

thoughts on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?

Watched some of the cutscenes on Youtube out of curiosity and it's exactly what anyone familiar with looter shooters was expecting gameplaywise. I leave analysis of that part to others, and will stick strictly to the story and how it pertains to Superman. Spoilers below.

My biggest complaint from the start was "why isn't there a Superman villain on this lineup? It's set in Metropolis! It advertises a boss fight against him as the big hype moment in trailers!" Guess the reason was because he ends up almost being an afterthought. Despite the game being set in Metropolis, Superman is barely in the game. He shows up about halfway through, kills Wonder Woman and goes back to Brainiac's ship to heal after getting impaled with kryptonite, then comes back so the Squad can kill him. Since none of the Squad has any history with or connection to him, he and they just spout canned one-liners at each other, and when he dies none of them really care.

The deaths of the Leaguers are all underwhelming. Wonder Woman has the best one simply because everyone acknowledges that she was a hero and it sucks she died. Superman comes in second because they don't shit on him or mutilate his corpse, hell it barely even gets acknowledged. GL and Flash get the worst of it. Batman's death scene is a lame ending for the Arkham Batman, something Superman himself lampshades when he confronts the Squad. I'll leave those for others to pick over, mostly because I don't have much to say beyond "they're terrible". The fights themselves and interactions with the Leaguers vary.

Boomerang has a funny feud with Flash that actually builds hype for the fight. Harley and Batman obviously have major history that we've seen unfold on-screen in previous games. Meanwhile Deadshot and King Shark stick out like sore thumbs. Putting aside both the dumbass retcon of this guy being the "real" Deadshot, and how annoying it is that the black sharpshooter villain who pumps Superman full of kryptonite bullets isn't Bloodsport, Deadshot has this feud with GL that is a game creation. The two black supers get paired together because of their race, and it doesn't work at all. There's no comic history there for Rocksteady to lean on to do the heavy lifting for them, and it ends up feeling forced. King Shark is an MCU Drax copy, and while funny, doesn't add anything. Should've been Bizarro or a GL villain in that spot.

Switching back to Superman, holy fuck is he written terribly here. At first I was pleasantly surprised, in the main game he barely does anything because he resisted Brainiac's reprogramming the longest, which was nice. Sure it's bullshit that he outwilled GL, but fuck it he's been shitted on for so long that I'll take that minor win that he lasted longer than Batman. On-screen we only see him kill WW who will probably get resurrected somehow too, meaning he didn't come off too heinously here unlike his Injustice counterpart. Unfortunately my initial goodwill was shortly soured thereafter when I found out that Superman is the reason everything went to shit.

Reason the JL gets enslaved is because Superman is a fucking idiot who mandates everyone walk into the Skull Ship without planning for betrayal after Brainiac invites them in to negotiate. Sure GL agrees with him, but let's be real Superman is going to get all of the blame and he deserves it based on how he's written here. God, just because Superman is an optimist doesn't mean he's a moron for Christ's sake. This is a guy who can hear all the terrible things happening around the world every time he listens in, there's no way he's naïve. A Superman this goddamn gullible would be killed or enslaved by Lex in their first meeting. Even takes like MAWS where he's a rookie don't have him being this stupid. Rocksteady doesn't get the character at all, and after this game I hope they never touch him again. Why are the video game takes on him this shitty, between Rocksteady and NRS it's like the two of them are competing to see who can dump on him more. Rocksteady originally hired Paul Dini to help them with the script for Asylum and City, and I'm convinced any Superman game appearances needs to hire one of his comic writers because a lot of these adaptions do not get him. They need to hire Waid (he's written for video games before) or PKJ or Williamson to help with the script.

The story here sucks and the kicker is that even when they bring the JL back (don't even pretend you're surprised by that) in later seasons, Rocksteady has still utterly destroyed the Arkhamverse.

I've seen people say maybe Rocksteady can continue the Arkhamverse with a new Batman game, or star one of the other heroes, and HOW THE HELL WOULD YOU DO THAT? Batman and Green Lantern at the very least killed fuckloads of people! Batman is directing Brainiac's forces, killing plenty of people personally, while GL was leading massacres and rounding up metas to be transformed into monsters. In the DCAU, which the Arkhamverse heavily leans on, Batman retires in shame after merely pointing a gun at someone in self-defense. Arkham Batman murdered God knows how many innocents, we even hear him kill a guy talking to Lois over the radio. No fucking way could Bruce live with that and keep being Batman, the shame and guilt he should feel would destroy him. Same goes for all of the other Leaguers, especially Superman.

All of this is on Superman's head, the population of Metropolis essentially has been wiped out. Lois survives (somehow), possibly some of the other Daily Planet people do too, but there's no WAY Clark can return to the Daily Planet and resume his normal routine. His actions here are what happened at the end of Superman: TAS, when Darkseid enslaved him, on steroids. Everyone is going to hate and fear him after this, and frankly I feel like Superman would exile himself to space out of shame and guilt. You cannot do a "traditional" Superman game after this, and a prequel is pointless for the same reason people are angry the Arkham games now lead to Batman being brainwashed and getting shot in the head by Harley. Could do a hell of an Elseworld game where Superman is trying to rebuild the wreckage of his life after the JL is disbanded and Earth 2 Lex Luthor becomes the most beloved man on Earth. Make it so Lois and Jimmy are either dead or want nothing to do with him, and he goes to Warworld on a suicide mission to find redemption in death. But a "traditional" follow up also set in Metropolis? Nuh-uh, I don't buy it. The Justice League has to go the way of the Justice Society after fucking up this bad.

Shame because he and Lois don't have bad designs (Lex and Brainiac on the other hand...). Metropolis itself is gorgeous and there are some fun Easter eggs that I've seen, never would've imagined Bendis' Invisible Mafia getting referenced. But after this shitshow of a game I want nothing more to do with this incarnation of Superman. Give the IP to another studio and let's make a game set in it's own universe like Monolith is doing for WW.

[savingthrcw]

I'm at the end of act 2 in BG3 and I'm suffering because I want to rp but I don't want to spoiler myself everything that happens next, do you see my pain??? I'm using the mod so the entire party is with me and I have all the convos and ugh

me losing it over shadowheart and astarion below

there is so much FUN that can be explored in rp like. honestly after the nightsong Lex and Shadowheart's friendship is ruined, which is so painful because she'd actually likes her more now but also she'll never fully trust Shadowheart again? because she had to basically bow her head and tell her 'I'm not okay with you killing the Nightsong but I can't lose you so I'll let you' and THEN Shadowheart made the right choice but it still meant Lex had to accept something like that to avoid having to kill her? (because I need a cleric), because she didn't trust her to make that decision from the beginning without interfering and initially it made Shadow more determined to kill the Nightsong? but how could Lex not intervene in the hope that Shadow wouldn't sacrifice someone held prisoner for her goddess if the ENTIRE TIME Shadow was saying that she'd do whatever Shar wanted even if she had to fight Lex? DAMN IT.

especially because like I said before Shadow lost ALL of her trust when Lex woke up at night to find out she put a knife on Lae'zel's throat while Lae slept and told her she'd claim she had started changing into a Mindflyer, like they are both obsessed with their beliefs but that moment alone told me Shadow would do anything to complete her mission. and now even if she feels lost shadow is starting to think more for herself instead of doing what her god, who took her memories of why she's doing things, demands her to do, and Lex LIKES that person but it's too late gkjlsgdjfgd

hell Lae'zell took not going after the creche better. but also ASTARION WHAT THE HELL kind of relationship did I end up writing. Lex threatened her ONCE because she knew Lae would like it and she was RIGHT.

but also ASTARION WHAT THE HELL kind of relationship did I end up writing, I'd love to ship them in rp even more than in the game tbh because there are more dialogue choices when we are free (let aside that my 'canon' ship is Wyll because it happened naturally since their interests align) but the 'we banter and bicker all the time but I'd do you' is one of my faves especially with the bonus 'if anyone tries to force him into anything I'll go feral', and Astarion is always so touched that Lex will give him a choice about pretty much anything despite shooting down his 'let's be evil' ideas and not letting anywhere near her neck lol

Gale is breaking my heart, HE BETTER NOT DIE. Karlach is my bro but also needs the damn hug but the guy who could have helped died at the last light inn so uhm

[drgnrder82]

Fictober22: That was not my intention

Original Fiction Based on my romance novel, Christmas Confessions

Warnings: Discussion of bullying

Prompt: That was not my intention

A/N: This takes place during Bella and Lucas' college years and is actually a scene that will take place in the novella I am working on rewrites for but I am sure will be more fleshed out in the novella.

~*~*~*~*

Lucas' sister Lexi idolized Bella Astor. Like 'magazine clippings taped to the wall, knew every inch of Bella Astor's life from social media and the news' idolized. And now… Bella Astor was not only inside the Holt home in Michigan… she was sleeping on… well… 

Lucas had found Bella on the living room couch, blanketed in Organic Chemistry books.  

Lex, however, was not deterred. She'd spent the entire first two days of Lucas' winter break home following Bella as much as humanly possible. When not following Bella, Lex constantly fumed in private that she couldn't just post about every little thing Bella did on the internet. Fortunately, and for Lucas' sanity, Bella made up for it. 

She patiently sat in the bathroom and curled Lex's hair. Showed his sister how to fit a shirt better with a few simple stitches. Bella even dragged Lexi to the grocery store. Lucas assumed an Astor had never once stepped foot in, but he'd been proved quite wrong when Bella pulled Lucas every which way in the grocery store, throwing food into a basket— to get ingredients for cookies. 

So, finding Bella splayed on the couch in the basement, sans Lex, Lucas stole the opportunity to spend time with his friend. 

"Hey, missing your new shadow?" Lucas asked, falling onto a pile of blankets on the couch next to Bella. 

A squeal made Lucas hop back up. 

“Rude!” Lex griped from the folds of his grandmother’s crocheted zig-zag blanket. 

A playful smirk crept across Bella’s lips. 

“Why are you hiding under there?” Lucas snipped. 

“Mom’s,” Lex flicked her eyes away from Bella, “being mom.” 

A sadder look passed over Bella’s face, but she stuffed it down. 

"I just wanted to spend more time with B," Lex's pouty face mashed into the blankets. 

"Oh… we're on an initial basis, huh? I don't even get to call Bella that." 

“The little… witch… goes by many names, Lucas. She answers to B, Bells, Bella-boo," Chris said as he carried three mugs of hot cocoa down the half-flight of stairs into the basement. "Don't throw the pillow if you want hot cocoa. Or… the Holt equivalent of such." 

"Now who's being rude," Bella said, standing and taking two mugs, then kicking her brother in the shin. 

Lucas knew what Lex was complaining about. His mother had been complaining the entire two days Lucas had been home about the heir and heiress' visit. His mother hadn't even believed Lucas was friends with the Astor twins (thankfully, he'd never been caught in paparazzi pictures with them). She thought Lucas was joking when he said he'd invited the Astor twins home for Christmas. 

“Why would billionaire children like them stoop to our little town for Christmas?” 

His mom waited for the shoe to drop. And always had a disdainful frown whenever anyone brought up the twins or they were in the room. 

“Lex?” Lucas tried. “Mom’s just… concerned.” 

"Oh, sure! Take her side. They're your friends!" Lex complained. 

"Yeah, and she's worried about their influence on you." As soon as the words came out, Lucas knew they were a mistake. Hurt seized Bella. "Bella? Oh, God. That was not my intention, Bella." 

Bella blinked back tears as she squeezed her mug. “It’s… well, it’s true, Lex. You need to be careful about how you hold people in your life.” 

Lucas tried to sit up and protest. How could he be so stupid as to say something like that to Bella? Dumb, stupid idiot! 

But Christian sat on the far end of the couch, near Lucas, and put a hand on his shoulder. He even pulled Lucas back to sitting. 

"Everyone thinks they know everything about people in the spotlight. Like our lives are an open book, and everything is right there in news stories.” 

Lex puffed out her cheeks. "It's so dumb. Just because you crashed that car, which was hilarious, Mom thinks you're a 'terrible influence.' Oh… and I guess getting arrested. And punching that guy. She says you do it for the attention. To get in the news." 

A grumbling noise came from Chris. 

“Mmm, so you know what happened that night?” Bella asked, setting her untouched hot cocoa on the coffee table. 

"Sure. You were at that club, Ethereal Eight, and on your way back, you crashed. I mean… the articles said you were drunk, and Mom said that because you’re an Astor you could drink and do whatever you want because no one’s going to arrest you…” 

"Ethereal Eight," Chris scoffed. "First, that club was not worth buying a drink at." 

"You want to know something?" Bella tried to put her regular bounce into sitting back on the couch.

“Yeah!” Lex grinned, letting Bella run her fingers through Lex’s loose bright blond waves. 

Bella said, "I wasn't drunk that night." 

“You weren’t? Then… how’d you get into a crash? Are you…?” 

“I crashed on purpose,” Bella said, twisting Lex’s hair into a low bun. 

Lex scrunched her nose. “Why on purpose?” 

Lucas shifted uncomfortably. In the months he'd known the twins, he never asked about all the news stories from several months earlier. 

“I was dating a boy at our school. We’d known of his family for a while. They weren’t Astors, but Daddy liked them. Anyways, we had sex…” 

"Bella!" Lucas cried, and Chris' laugh made his sister crack. 

Until the crack faded. "… and he taped it…" Bella continued slowly. "And when we broke up… he sent it to his friends and… more people, and well, no one wanted to stand up for me. No one cared. They all blamed me. So, I saw him at Ethereal's opening and…" 

“I swiped his car keys,” Chris beamed broadly. 

“And I wrecked his brand new Porsche.” Bella drew in a long breath. 

“Wait,” Lex said, confused. “That wasn’t in the news or on any of the blogs.” 

"Yes," Chris took over, "because those places are always reputable. They want a story that will sell. But B was also underage at the time, so… The point is, you can't always know who someone is from their socials and news stories." 

Lex whispered, “Oh my God, you’re so much cooler now.” 

"What's going on down here? Is there a party no one invited me to?" Lucas' dad held a massive bowl of popcorn and a hot cocoa mug of his own. His warmth radiated on them all, lifting the sour mood. "Now, I have some embarrassing home videos of Lucas as a baby, waddling around this house somewhere. And I bet you two would get a hoot out of Lucas' little tushy…" 

“Dad!” Lucas shot up. “No!” 

“I think this should be a new family tradition. Every year you two come out here, we watch a new video of Lucas as a wee babe.” His dad had already started rummaging through the videos in the cabinet under the television. 

"For that alone, I will come back next year, too," Chris sighed and took a long sip of his cocoa. 

“Bella? Sound like a plan?” His dad softened. 

“Of course, Mr. Holt,” she answered demurely. 

“Wait? Dad?” Lex bolted off the couch. “Are you saying Bella and Christian Astor can come back for Christmas next year?” 

“I certainly hope they will.” 

An ear-piercing squeal emitted from Lex.

[deememm]

And every time our fingers touched I felt like it would be too much And too little to hang on to

Lexi never really paid attention to the hustle and bustle around prom.

It was just another night for students to dress up, feel good about themselves, and get fucked up on whatever shit they wanted.

She had been so focused on college applications and Fez this year that anything else didn't really matter. For months, Lexi had been slowly reeling Fez in from the deep dark place he was drowning in, making sure he was keeping his head afloat with everything that had happened.

No matter how hard he tried to push her away, she stood her ground and made it known that she was always going to be there for him. They never really got to define what they were before everything happened but she knew she loved him... Lover, friend, or acquaintance; she would take whatever he could give. Right now, he just needed her to stand by him. His brother went to war for him, it was only right she stood by him to help build back the fallen pieces.

Here she was getting ready for a prom she didn't want to go to. She had picked out her light pink dress with Cassie a year ago before everything went to shit and she had moved out. Maddy, who had come over to help her get ready, was putting the finishing touches on her make-up... An unexpected friend she needed while her life was breaking into pieces. "Howard, if she could steal my ex-boyfriend then I'm stealing her little sister," Maddy had told her as she comforted Lexi in the washroom after finding her crying because she had called Fez after he had texted her to stop calling him.

She had never mentioned it to him and he had never brought it up. She knew Rue said something in passing. She knew that he knew about tonight but nothing was really said. Plus, he'd never go anyways.

Staring at her phone, she looked at the last text messages they had exchanged earlier today.

Lexi: Good morning! How are you?

Fez: i'm aight lex. just opening up the store like usual.

Lexi: Do you want me to come by after? :)

Fez: nah i'm good. have a good day at school ok?

Looking at herself in the mirror. She took a deep breath. In another life, he'd be wearing his tux with a bouquet of red roses in his hand. He'd kiss her softly and give her the smile she longed to see again.

"Howard, I'm leaving to get to Kat's. You look fucking hot. I'll see you later!" Maddy yelled from behind her as she heard the door slam shut.

Silence. Something she used to love but now hated. I was a space filled with things unsaid, people who have left, and people that were missed.

*Ping*

Fez: where u at?

Lex: Just at home. Why?

*INCOMING CALL: Fez*

"Fez?"

"Come outside."

*CLICK*

Lexi's breath picked up at the thought of Fez seeing her all dressed up. Quickly walking down the stairs, she took one last look in the mirror in her foyer as she opened the door to step outside her house.

Her heart stopped as she saw Fez standing outside. Standing there in a fitted pink suit that perfectly matched her dress, carrying a small plastic box with a pink corsage inside, smiling nervously at her.

The smile that he saved just for her.

Taking initiative like he did that first night on New Year's Eve, he stepped towards her and grabbed her hand, threading his fingers through hers.

"C'mon, we gon' be late for your prom."

[river-bottom-nightmare]

an (incomplete) list of things kon can do because lex luthor is his dad that people always forget about:

#1 : math - he's fifteen, and math comes easy to him (unlike a lot of people his age, or at least, his visible age.) a lot of things come easy to him, because when you have all knowledge in the known universe downloaded into your brain, things like advanced math don't bother you very much.

but it bothers his friends, because bart loses interest about three seconds into the assignments, cassie groans anytime "homework" is brought up in general, and tim hates the concept and execution of math so much that he'd rather hide in kon's room where he thinks no one will look for him instead of even cracking open a textbook.

but kon's pretty sure being a hero means you don't need any real world skills, and after his initial hesitation and disagreements, he realized that he genuinely wants these people to like him, to be friends with him. their math homework is easier than a breeze to complete.

#2 : tying a tie the ~fancy~ way - he's nineteen, and his fingers flow through a silk tie like a fish through water. the motions are beyond familiar, he could do them in his sleep. so is the action of pulling on a suit, pressing his collar, arranging his hair into a neat style. he's timothy drake-wayne's date tonight, and he needs to look the part. fortunately, luthor taught him how to look the part a long the ago.

the party itself is,,,,pleasant, he supposes. he spends most of the time as arm candy, tim's pretty little thing as his boyfriend sweet-talked investors and networked. but they both know that the tipsier people are, the easier they let slip secrets to someone they believe won't understand them, and kon gathers a wealth of information by the time he meets up with tim by the appetizer bar right before dinner.

tim tugs him close by his tie and kisses his cheek, then laughs when kon discreetly but disgustedly spits out the pickled salmon cracker toppings.

#3 : educated debating - he's sixteen, and in an argument with tim that's gone so off the rails that kon can't even remember what they were fighting about in the first place. wherever they started, they were here, now, kon on top of a table in an ice cream parlour screaming about how a socialist approach to taxes would boost the lower class, tim on top of a barstool screaming right back about how the middle class are the only ones paying taxes and socialism would only put more weight on their shoulders.

both of them are this close to busting out laughing, and the only reason they haven't been thrown out is because the employee behind the counter is frantically taking notes. kon can see it in tim's eyes, see the way the younger boy didn't expect to hold such a passionate and intense debate with him, didn't expect kon to be capable of it. it's a pleasant surprise, though; that much is evident in tim's barely-hidden grin.

the debate comes to a pause when bart smacks him with a spoon and tells him off for stepping on the speedster's ice cream, and the tiredness with which he collapses back into the booth is a good one.

#4 : efficient + effective workplace supervision - he's twenty, and wondering how in the hell people hadn't murdered the entirety of young justice when it was first founded. bart had graduated to being the flash's full time sidekick, and though he came to visit often, it wasn't the same. gotham was almost always on the verge of imminent disaster these days, and tim was one of the few ropes holding it together. kon missed him like crazy, but his few visits were all the boy could spare. cassie was in charge now, and she was a wonderful leader, but busy, always smoothing over relations between the team and the justice league and civilian offices.

so, somehow, that left kon to be the den mother to all the new younger kids, and somehow, kon was good at it. he knew exactly what to say to get people to listen to his commands, telling them to work on this or work on that, train for this and practice that. he tells them when to get some sleep and let the weight of the day roll off their shoulders, and when to push themselves to raise them higher than they ever thought they could go. unexpectedly, he finds himself liking it.

#5 : the splits

#6 : colour schemes + interior decorating - he's twenty-one, and tim's finally deciding to turn the nest into a home. bart, who had spent the last couple of years bouncing between allen-west-mercury households and was therefore accustomed to a home with a fire of love reaching every corner and every member of the family, was appalled. so was kon, honestly.

the penthouse that tim worked out of was cold and impersonal, sleek lines that angles that matched the limbs and contours of tim's body. but the shadows around tim's eyes had lessed over the past few years, his smile coming to his lips almost as easy as when young justice first learned how to work together. all it took was a little encouragement from cassie, and suddenly, all four of them were involved in a home renovation project.

cassie churned out ikea furniture like it was nothing, the three of them taking a break from their jobs to just watch her as she lifted one of their hardwood bookshelves with one hand. bart bought home goods and essentials from various department stores and ran around, stocking the house with them wherever he felt a saucepan needed to be hung (near the coat hanger) or a candle holder needed to be placed (on the kitchen barstools, because apparently those were decorative anyway).

kon, meanwhile, decorated. he painted rooms and bought curtains and pillows, yes. but he also sorted through every single souvenir and memory the four of them had managed to accumulate over the years, photographs and hacked-off pieces of giant robots and saved movie tickets and broken weapons. he gets his hands on everything he can find, then fills up tim's nest until it's brimming with a cosy warmth made up of the four of them.

still, it's an obnoxiously large penthouse, so there's empty and open space left over even after redecorating. it's tim who takes a breath and works up the courage to tell them, not ask but tell them, that he wanted each of them to have their own bedroom. so bart takes the largest guest room and turns it into an explosion of colour, and cassie spends too much time decorating a room that she won't even live in most of the time. kon conspicuously notes how tim doesn't bother giving kon a room, just dumps kon's backpack on his bed and clears room in his own closet. he does wrap tim in a ttk hug though, from all the way across the room, and drinks in tim's red flush.

#7 : speed reading (no powers) - he's seventeen, and just now realizing how competitive his best friends are. cassie had long since resigned herself to being the judge and the hander-outer-of-prizes (candy from the nearest convenience store) for the speed-reading competition, but tim, kon, and bart were still in the running.

eventually, though, the pressure from holding back his powers grew too strong, and bart slumped against the back of the sofa, mournfully opening his mouth so cassie could drop a candy into it.

and then there were two.

kon thought back to the confrontation that had started this contest in the first place, robin's offhand comment about how he had to be the one to collect the data files from the company office they were infiltrating, because he was the only one who could speed-read and retain information. that had spiraled into an argument, then a challenge, then a competition, with a clear rule not to use any powers.

kon darted his eyes across the page, soaking up every word, the pages like tiny knives on the pads of his fingers as he turned them. he lost track of the page count, just reading and reading and reading until he tried to turn the page and realized there wasn't a next one. he yelled in triumph, reveling in tim's defeated groan, and settled in for cassie's quiz on the contents of the book.

#8 : sophisticated meal and wine palette - he was twenty-two, and discovering that he really, really liked tim's shocked face. they'd been friends for years now, childish hatred turned into playful bantering turned into knowing each other inside out. still, every now and then, kon did something that forced tim's eyebrows high on his head, his eyes widening just the barest bit.

right now, kon was at a dinner party with the words moral support written across his forehead. tim could handle himself remarkably well, but there was tiredness lacing the smaller boy's frame, and kon could practically see the way the tips of his soul were frazzled. so kon let tim lean into his arm and whispered jokes about luna-with-the-big-ugly-purse and martonio-who-can't-do-a-combover into his ear. or, at least, he was.

somehow he'd been drawn into a good natured argument with the man sitting just two seats down from tim and kon. friendly opinions of food had been tossed back and forth, growing more and more heated until kon looked him right in the eye and said he liked prosecco with his prosciutto, internally crowing with satisfaction at their shocked silence and sighing with pity that none of the guests here would ever try that combination out of fear of deviation. once the man had regained his sensibilities, he shot back, saying the sixth course should never serve salmon, instead regaling the fish to the amusebouche or the cheese course. kon snorted and told him fish itself was going out of style, and if he wanted to impress guests at the next dinner party he hosted, he should try serving octopus.

tim's shocked face was a pleasant surprise, but seeing the stunned, controlled blinks of everyone around him as they realized he wasn't just a pretty face was satisfying as well. even more satisfying was when he and tim said their goodbyes; while waiting for the valet, tim pressed up onto the tips of his toes and whispered promisingly in kon's ear, i fucking love your competence.

#9 : manipulating people into hating him to justify his actions - he was eighteen, and he was screaming, crying, tearing his hair out. kon didn't know what he had expected. lingering fondness? grudging acceptance? maybe a small leap for a chance at love?

it didn't matter. clark didn't want anything to do with him. and he was eighteen now, which meant clark didn't need to take care of him anymore, didn't need to pretend to pay attention to him anymore. he'd made it quite clear.

maybe that was why he found himself hesitating before saying no to amanda waller's offer. he forgot about the warnings tim gave him, though, and waller pounced on that hesitation, quicker than a panther. it was easy, it was oh so easy to let himself go with her.

besides, they had a reason to hate him now. he hadn't done anything to clark. he hadn't asked to be made. but clark had wanted nothing to do with him anyway, and didn't that sting. so if people were going to turn him away now, it was going to be for something he did.

he didn't realize how bad he was spiraling, how close he was to stepping off the lighted ledge he'd been balancing on his entire life and tumbling into the darkness below. but cassie had a stronger punch than most grown superheroes, and bart had tenaciousness written into every strand of his ginormous hair, and tim gripped his jaw so hard his fingernails dug into kon's skin and told kon that he was getting his best friend back, no matter what the hell he thought he was worth.

maybe it was madness that made him throw himself forward, still wrapped in the lasso cassie borrowed from diana, practically mauling tim's lips with his own. he was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to break down crying after he kissed someone, given past experience, but the three of them, his wonderful, wonderful friends, just hugged him tight, let him fight and shake and sob until all the rage was gone. it was the first time in a long while he'd done something in hopes that someone would look at him with love, not hatred.

#10 : waltzing - he was twenty-three, twenty three and giddy with how much time he had left. conner was with tim drake-wayne publicly now, so expectations were thrust onto him, expecting to be met.

kon tended to have more fun at events than tim ever did. granted, kon didn't have to deal with all of his coworkers drinking too much and exchanging money with secrets faster than drugs and asking tim whether or not his relationship meant he was open for still-young and handsome men who needed just a small escape from their wives. but tim wasn't trying very hard to enjoy himself either.

so kon was completely justified in tugging him towards the center of the room, in a patch of floor sparsely occupied, then pulling him as close as he dared. tim's panicked whisper of what!? was overridden by kon's laughter, but he muffled his sounds for a minute, letting tim hear the quiet music playing in the background (prerecorded and playing on speakers, not live).

understanding broke over tim's face, and he arched into kon's hold as easy as breathing. kon moved one of his hands to grip tim's wrist, and he twirled the two of them effortlessly, breathless at tim's flabbergasted expression. the rhythm was simple, and tim caught on quickly. one two three, one two twist, one two three, one two step, one two three, one two switch, one two three, one two three.

kon couldn't say they danced the night away, because a little while later tim took a break for a drink, then speeches were made, then dinner was served. by then, they were both entirely too tired to dance, longing for just a bed and a soft blanket and each other. but for those few minutes in the middle of a packed yet empty ballroom, kon and tim did lose themselves in the music, just a little bit.

i don't know shit about taxes or socialism. this got way longer than anticipated whoops. i'm tagging this "long post," but if someone asks me to put it under a cut, i'd be happy to

also jesus christ this thing is almost 2.5k words. im uploading it to ao3 later if i'm in the mood

tag list: @woahjaybird @birdy-bat-writes @anothertimdrakestan @subtleappreciation @screennamealreadyused @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @bikoncon @maplumebleue-blog-blog @sundownridg @thatsthewhump @xatanna-troy

[templedragon]

Supergirl 6x10 Still I Rise

Despite the show being called Supergirl, the show hasn't been about her all season. In 6A, Kara was talked about by all the people who missed her on Earth Prime, and in the Phantom Zone she was championing (with different success levels) Nyxly and her father. For 6x09 and 6x10 the development has gone to Kelly in leaps, Nia in dregs, and a guest character of Orlando. Orlando could have more story, too. Think of the impact if he'd said his parents were killed by the alien hate groups and Lex Luthor in season 4.

Kara herself is being reduced in intelligence and compassion in order to make the social commentary story work. This episode, Kara could have related to losing her home because of societial structures and insist on change to give people a home for existing. But no, instead the writers think a reporter who set up her own website and has partaken in a PSA with Brainy doesn't know the impact of social media and having a platform outside of corporations. It's not like Andrea has been quiet about CatCo trending since season 5...

The show has always suffered with what it chooses to remember and what to overlook. It remembered Alex trained Kara in combat when she became a superhero, but forgot that Kelly is ex-military. Kelly can't get combat training from her brother as he worked out for fun and then put on heavy armour to fight. The show forgets that Kara has no Earth Prime memories, so she shouldn't recall the menagerie alien from the Brainy/Nia timetravel episodes. If Kara was more than plot serving, she could have mentioned Crisis on Infinite Earth and how Earth Prime got formed as it is and what the heck went wrong. For Brainy, his poignant eating disorder is written off as a gross joke.

The show is repeating the bad format of a SuperFriend working with the enemy, despite them knowing it's wrong. Last season it was Lena and Brainy deciding to work with Lex. This season it's Nia being isolated from the group to work with Nyxly. Last season, Nia disowned Brainy for choosing Lex, and Kara left Lena to her abusive family, so we'll see if the SuperFriends ignore Nia's poor judgement. Grief is a terrible thing, and I've pondered what Nia could possible learn in 24 hours with her mother about her powers. It seems she has all the knowledge but was held back by family grief - her sister wanted the powers and Nia would have loved her to have them.

Nia's reintroduction to the SuperFriends will hopefully remove William from having so much screentime as she can do everything he does. William could be a Noonan's employee and have the same impact in feeding Kara and having informants. Whatever happened to M'Gann now Kara's back - where was her reunion scene after risking her life to save her? Do J'onn or Alex or Kara have story arcs this season? Why didn't Kara speed fly people out of the collapsing building? Why is the Legion ship in plain sight with civilians on it if it's supposed to be secret?

Kara's PTSD has been absent for two episodes. She complained about being cold as a trigger, yet here she is pinned by ice magic by the person who betrayed her in the Phantom Zone and she's... fine apparently. Though I am living for the *spoilers about leaked filming* "You're bound by magic and only magic can fight it" as Lena seems to be learning magic in future episodes. Supercorp Endgame! The romantic partner always saves the hero, while the hero saves everyone else. The synopsis for the next episode mentions what Kara is doing and what Lena is doing, albeit separately. Funny where the focus is. Presumably, Lena will unlock her powers when she faces her grief over her mother's death, the same way Nia unlocked her powers when she faced her grief over her sister with her mother's guidance. Letting go of the past may be a theme of the season, as Kara's got back everything that traumatised her initially (both parents and Argo) so her trauma now is the Phantom Zone as a place and not wanting to be separated from all of her found family.

Once again there was no trailer for this episode. Showcase released the opening scene of Brainy and Kara doing the nutritional food PSA.

[from-a-reckless-writer]

some rojascorp mayhaps??

Once upon time, Andrea Rojas would've been the first person she would call about this. Ask her if it would really be a good idea to drop everything and just leave. In her mind's eye, she can already see what Andrea would've said. She would say, yes. And most possibly even tell Lena she'd drop everything too and fly right along with her.

You jump. I jump.

She was sure of it. After all, they did it once before.

So, really it wasn't a surprise when she opens the door and sees Andrea on the doorstep.

"Andrea." The door opens wider and Lena lets her in. "What are you doing here?"

Even though based on the unreadable expression on her face, Lena already has an inkling.

"I overheard my emp-" she clears her throat, waits for Lena to turn and face her. "I overheard Nia and Kara today," Andrea speaks slowly, "You're going to Ireland."

Lena merely raises a questioning brow.

"I-" Andrea fidgets and that's the first time Lena sees that there is something in her hands. A folded piece of paper, it looks like.

Andrea catches her eyes, and says, almost a whisper, "I have something to confess."

Lena inhales deep, crosses her arms.

"Well, let's hear it then."

Andrea takes a step forward, debates putting a hand on Lena but settles for fidgeting with the paper again.

Now upon closer inspection, Lena notices its yellow color, an old parchment and if the inky bleeds are any indication, Lena's suspects it to be some old letter.

This rattles the heart in her chest, for reasons she would not dare name.

Andrea starts to speak again and Lena tears her gaze away from the letter.

"I-I've been investigating Lex," Andrea tells her.

"Seems like that's what everybody is doing these days, or so I heard." Lena's stalling she knows, but who wouldn't? Andrea's serious yet sincere gaze is terrifying. It has been so long since that's been directed at her, and Lena does not want to fall victim again.

Andrea ignores her, continues on, her voice now more sure, most likely the effect of noting Lena's reaction. Andrea knows all too well what she can do after all.

"And in order to do that," she explains, "I had to infiltrate the Luthor Mansion."

As Acrata, Lena adds in her head. She remains as stoic as possible and what Andrea does next almost knocks her.

"Lena," she says, "I really think we should sit down for this."

The rattling has now become pure chaos inside her.

Lena says nothing in response, just turns around again for Andrea to follow. She guides her to the enormous couch. She crosses her legs and Andrea does the same next to her. Lena pointedly avoiding the thing in Andrea's hands.

"So?" Lena prods.

Andrea inhales, swallows, "I went to Lionel's study."

The room springs clear in Lena's mind.

The rows of books; the smell of cigar and grease when Lionel brings his projects home; Lex's diploma framed and hung, Lena's report card pinned next to it. A single family picture. The stiffest Lena has ever felt for the camera.

"And I- I found something."

Lena snaps back to the present.

"It's from your mother."

Andrea looks regal in the open moonlight of her apartment, and God, she thinks, it truly would never be over, would it?

"N-not Lillian." Why Andrea felt the need to clarify that, she wouldn't know. When she's the first person Lena had confided to about how Lillian was never a mother to her.

"A letter," Lena states, her voice is quiet and calm, the opposite of the tempest deep inside.

"Yes," she confirms, "here." Andrea starts to hand her the letter-

"Can you please-" she blurts out suddenly, Andrea halting mid-way.

"Can you please hold my hand? While I-" she inhales deep, "While I read it? Please?"

Andrea only nods, reaches for Lena's hand, wraps around it tightly.

It's the anchor Lena needs, but she would never admit that. It looks like she doesn't need to though. Andrea already knows she's afraid of drowning.

Lena takes the paper gently, afraid that it will crumple the dust the moment her fingers touch it.

The paper is old and yellow. The ink blurred at some parts, drops of something Lena suspects to be alcohol, marring the words. He imagines Lionel reading it for the first time in his study. Did he feel the same churning in his stomach as Lena did now? Was he too drunk to even read it?

God, Lena so badly wishes she was drunk right now.

Andrea squeezes her hand and drags her back.

The writing isn't anything like hers. Each word in capital letters, which should've made it look a bit robotic and too uniform, yet to Lena's eyes it looks elegant. As if the hand that had written took great care in laying down the words.

She reads the first line.

"To my dearest Lionel,

I am sending this directly to the mansion, I apologize in advance. I tried calling. But your assistant, I have to commend her--she gets creative with those excuses--never fails to inform me that you're unavailable. I've also tried your various emails, to no avail. And well, this is my last resort.

All this to say, I know when I'm not wanted anymore. But I do just need to send you this one last letter. If you don't want me in your life anymore, well, who am I to stop you? You're Lionel Luthor.

But I do think you might want to know about your daughter, our daughter. Lionel, we never did make any good decisions together, but I think, our daughter, she's the one good thing to ever come out of this mess.

She's turning two on the 24th. She's perhaps the best thing that could have happened to my life. She's a menace, she started walking early and I've babyproofed the house yet I'm still afraid she'd knock her head somewhere. She's a babbler, and a smart one at that. She's going to do great things, Lionel. I just know it. I'm so proud of her already. She has your eyes. Always green. Always bright. I miss you, I'm not going to lie. Yet, when I hear her laugh, it doesn't hurt so much anymore.

Her name is Lena, in case you've already forgotten. Don't worry, her birth certificate doesn't say Luthor. Lena Kieran, I've decided, would be the safest for her. She will be untraceable. Nobody will manage to link her to you.

Then why name her Lena at all? If she'll never be a Luthor, right? Naming her with an L seems a bit sentimental, I admit. A selfish part of me, I think, is still hoping for you to come back. To see you hold Lena for the first time, matching eyes lighting up. Maybe give her your name.

Someday.

She's the love of my life, Lionel. I would do anything for her. I keep wondering if you would do the same if you met her. If you will ever meet her. I'm afraid, you know? I'm terrified of the day she'll come asking for you. I'm terrified that even though I love her fiercely, it would never be enough. Will my love ever be enough? It never was for you.

But well, I never was one to dwell on sad things, so I'm afraid I have to end it here, Lena will wake soon. And how such a small thing can make so much noise, I don't know.

Goodbye, my love.

If you ever have a change of heart, you know where to find us.

Yours..."

And that was it, Lena realizes, that was the end. It wasn't signed. She turns the paper over frantically, searching for any clue, anything, any sign.

A signature, a name, an initial.

Nothing. There's nothing.

"Where's the- there's no-"

She doesn't realize she's sobbing till Andrea's tearing the paper away from her hands and pulling her close; doesn't realize she's hyperventilating till Andrea's squeezing her tight, tight, tight.

"Lena, you have to breathe. Lena, breathe."

She lets herself be carried away by Andrea, heaving gasps coming out of her lungs.

She's the love of my life.

I would do anything for her.

She'll never be a Luthor.

I'm terrified-

"Lena, Lena," somebody's calling her.

"Lena, you have to look at me. Look at me."

Her eyes focus and Andrea is there, soft and strong and here.

Lena's fully in her lap, one arm wrapped around her, one hand cupping her face.

"Lena, Lena," she keeps saying her name, her palm warm on Lena's cheek, and all Lena can do is nod. Tears are still streaming down her face and if she opens her mouth, she's afraid of what will come out.

So, she nods. She nods and she tries to breathe, tries to follow Andrea's counting.

Her breathing settle, and she can feel the whoosh of relief from Andrea.

"There we go, just breathe, just breathe," she coos, running her fingers through Lena's hair.

"I'm sorry," Andrea tells her, "God, Lena. I'm so sorry, I should not have sprung it on you like that. I'm so stupid. So, so stupid. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

She says sorry over and over. pressing it to Lena's hair, to Lena's forehead, anywhere within reach.

"T-there's no signature," Lena manages to say, she feels Andrea tense beneath her. "No name. I don't know why- I don't know why I can't remember her name."

Her lips move against Andrea's exposed collarbone, and she wonders if that's the reason something is drumming loud beneath the skin Lena's pressed to.

"She couldn't sign it, I think."

"I think so, too," Andrea agrees quietly.

She was the other woman, of course, she couldn't sign it. It was already an act of bravery to send it to a place where Lillian Luthor resides. Signing it would've meant more than danger.

"You were a kid," Andrea whispers, "You were a kid, Lena. It's okay if you don't remember."

But it's not. Because, because her mother loved her so much and Lena can't even remember her name.

"She said, I wasn't going to be a Luthor, in the letter, she said."

And that, that must mean something, right? That must mean that everyone else is wrong, she's not just a Luthor. She wasn't supposed to be one anyway.

Kieran.

"I'm so sorry, Lena," Andrea says again and Lena's unsure what she's still apologizing for.

"Kieran, Andrea. Kieran. I don't think that's supposed to be my middle name." She pulls away from her place on Andrea's chest to look at her.

She turns around, reaches for the letter discarded on the table. Her hands doesn't tremble much this time.

"Look, there, see," she points at the line, "She said, Lena Kieran. I think, I think that's a surname."

A clue.

A thread to pull on.

A part of her that connects them together.

Andrea stares at her silently, "I think you might be right."

Lena's mind is going a mile a minute now, she would have to research. She would need Brainy's help, a database, she needs access to a database, lists of orphanages, records that Lillian might have hidden about her.

"Lena," Andrea calls, "Slow down."

"I- I wasn't-" A blush rises to her cheeks, "I wasn't doing anything."

"Yes, you were. I can hear you thinking."

She doesn't answer, just slumps back into Andrea again, buries her red face out of sight.

"I'll help you," Andrea murmurs, "I'll help you. You don't have to do it alone. Not anymore."

"Okay," she says, dares to kiss at Andrea's jaw. "Thank you," she breathes against her skin.

There's so much to unpack, so much to do, so much to say.

But it can wait, it can wait.

"You jump, I jump."

[galactic-magick]

Family: Bruce Wayne/Batman x Reader

Request: Could I please get Bruce Wayne x Reader? Where he and reader have a daughter and are married. They’re currently fighting because readers feels that Bruce is caring too much about the League than his family, before they leave to fight Stephen Wolf, they get in a fight things were said that weren’t meant but he comes back and FLUFF

Summary: Being married to Bruce Wayne has always been hard, especially with a young daughter at home, but things get worse when Steppenwolf threatens the world.

Words: 1300+

Warnings: angst (happy ending though)

Author’s Notes: Had a little too much fun writing this angst hehe, hope you like it anon!

Taglist: @candid-confetti​

-

-

-

You always knew what you were getting into when you married a superhero. You knew there’d be a lot of late nights, a lot of wounds, a lot of time away. When you had your daughter, you knew balancing a family with fighting criminals would take its toll. You knew it wouldn’t be easy, but you’ve always tried to get through it together.

Lately though, it’s been harder than usual. Bruce has become consumed with Lex Luthor’s threat, constantly coming and going without warning in search of heroes to help in a fight you’re not even sure is actually coming. Both you and Alfred have tried telling him there’s been no signs of other-worldly catastrophes, to no avail. You know he’s doing it to keep you and the world safe, yet it doesn’t always feel that way.

“Bruce,” you grab his hand, hoping to stop him from leaving again. “When are you going to take a break?”

“I can’t, you know that,” he responds firmly. “The world won’t be safe until we have a solid defense. I may be able to protect one city, but I need more help to protect everyone else,”

“Protect everyone from what?” you sigh. “Luthor is locked up, everyone else you’ve taken down is locked up. What are you so afraid of?”

“It’s the fact that I don’t know that I’m afraid of,” he puts his hands on your shoulders. “Please, honey, just trust me,”

“We miss you at home. Your own daughter rarely sees you anymore,”

“I’ll spend time with her soon, I promise,” he kisses your forehead and heads out the door. “I love you,”

 -

 You desperately wish that was the end of it, and life would return to normal as soon as possible.

But that was far from the case.

Bruce was right about one thing: a threat was coming. A big one.

A giant alien called Steppenwolf has set foot on Earth, searching for three objects called “motherboxes” and planning to use them against humanity somehow. Bruce won’t tell you exactly what will happen if he gets all of them, but you’ve gotten Diana to tell you he is most likely working for an even worse enemy named Darkseid, who wants to control the entirety of the universe.

It’s terrifying to say the least, and part of you is relieved that Bruce saw this coming and is actively preparing against it. But even so, he’s still been struggling to keep his promises to his own family in the midst of it all. You’ve been trying your hardest to be understanding, to keep coming up with excuses to your daughter about why her dad isn’t around and manage on your own, but you’re starting to wonder if it’s worth it anymore.

What is this will be your reality for the rest of your lives? Who’s to say there won’t be more threats like this all the time, never catching a break and never getting back the man you love?

 -

 The stakes keep getting higher and higher, everything moving too fast for you to keep up. Bruce is running directly into danger left and right, trying things that could get him killed. His team has supposedly brought back Superman from the dead, and Steppenwolf has now found the last of the motherboxes. They’ve fought him head to head once, and they’re planning on doing it again to destroy him and the boxes.

“Please don’t go,” you beg him. Most of the team has already gone outside towards the ship, and if you hadn’t called him he probably would’ve left without a word.

He huffs, “For once can you just let me do what I have to do?”

“I have been,” your voice raises. “But can’t you see how reckless you’re being? And you refuse to even talk to me about it? You could at least pretend that you care,”

“Don’t you dare tell me that I don’t care,” he points a finger at you. “Everything I’m doing is for our family,”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have a family left to come back to!”

His face falls, and you instantly regret what you said, but it’s too late. He leaves, and you slump into the nearest chair, tears held back only by the anger you had been holding onto until this moment.

“Hey,” Diana comes up to you as she heads for the door herself. “I didn’t mean to listen in, but I think there’s something you should know,”

“What?” you groan.

“He hasn’t told you what will actually happen if the motherboxes unite so he doesn’t worry you, but they’re not just weapons. They’ll turn this planet into a mirror of Darkseid’s and kill most of humanity, and if Darkseid also finds the Anti-Life equation he’ll control what’s left of us. Bruce has also been having vivid dreams of a future where Darkseid wins, me and Arthur are dead, and…” she exhales. “You and your daughter are dead too,”

“I…” you can’t find any words to reply.

“We could all die out there today, whether we win or lose,” she shakes her head. “But I know he loves you, and if we make it out alive he’ll make sure you know,”

She puts her sword and shield on her back, and races out the door.

 -

 You don’t sleep at all that night, waiting several hours before you hear anything.

What if he’s dead and that’s the last thing you ever said to him?

What if you have to explain to your daughter the next morning that she’ll never see her father again?

The tears finally come, streaming down your cheeks like a waterfall. It can’t end like this, can it?

Your daughter hears you, coming into the room and sitting next to you.

“Did you and daddy have another fight?” she asks.

You nod. You want to tell her it’s more than that, but you’re not sure how much her poor little heart can handle.

“You should stop doing that,” she says matter-of-factly. “You’re both so sad all the time now. People who love each other shouldn’t make each other sad,”

“You’re right, honey,” you sigh, pulling her close to you. “You’re right,”

 -

 You must’ve fallen asleep on the couch, because when you open your eyes it’s almost dark again.

“Hey,” you hear your husband’s voice behind you. “I didn’t want to wake you, but-“

You jump off the couch and run to him, falling into his arms and burying your face in his chest. The tears start falling again, and he holds you in silence until you get over the initial shock and relief.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I should’ve told you what was really going on. I never meant to keep secrets from you and neglect our family,”

You nod, allowing him to wipe the tears away with his thumbs and guide your gaze up to his.

“I’m just happy you’re alive,” you smile.

“Everyone’s okay,” he says. “We destroyed the boxes and killed Steppenwolf. We might not be safe forever, but we’re safe now,”

“Safe enough for you to come back to us?”

“Yes,” he holds you closer. “And I’ll never leave again,”

“Yay! You’re happy now!”

You turn your heads toward your daughter walking around the corner and up to you.

“I knew you would!” she giggles, hugging both of you. “No more fighting, okay? You should love each other instead,”

“Love each other, huh?” Bruce smirks, leaning in to kiss you.

“Ewww not like that!” she covers her eyes, getting a laugh out of both of you.

“Later then,” he says to you, and you nudge him playfully.

You follow her back to her room to tuck her into bed, something you always did together before all the chaos, something that brings back a sense of normal. She tries to get you let her stay up more, get you to tell her stories or answer her random questions, but eventually she falls asleep.

“I love you,” he kisses you once you’re alone again.

You wrap your arms around him, never wanting to let him go, “I love you too,”

[thevindicativevordan]

On Livewire

You know Leslie is probably the most popular and well known female Superman Rogue mainly because they use her so heavily in outside media.

Which makes sense given her debut in Superman: The Animated Series, but it still kind of fascinates me. They didn't bring her into comics continuity until 2006 apparently, with Gail Simone and John Byrne (Byrne of all the creators!) being the ones to finally fold her in. Even after they brought her in, they still have never given her that much attention or focus which is a disappointment for me frankly, because Livewire is honestly fantastic in Scott McCloud and later Mark Millar's Superman Adventures runs, and I would say with complete sincerity that those two are probably her best writers. "Millar writing a female character well?" you scoff at in disbelief. I know, I was shocked too! But she's funny, clever, and a huge pain in the ass for Supes. Reading how she was used there, and rewatching her STAS incarnation recently, really made a big realization for the character hit me like a lightning bolt (couldn't resist):

She's basically an evil superpowered Lois Lane! I know I can't have been the first one to realize that, although I haven't seen anyone else actually outright state it anywhere, but c'mon it's so obvious! She's a reporter of a sorts as well thanks to being a disc jockey, her debut in STAS even has her interviewing Lois and Clark! She's got strong opinions on Superman that conflict with the general opinion about him (Lois being pro-Superman when everyone else is more hostile towards him at first, Livewire being anti-Superman when everyone else has embraced him as their hero). She's rude and abrasive, and doesn't care if her opinions offend people, which sure does remind me of Lois at her meanest.

Livewire to me is an examination of what Lois would be like if she abandoned her morals or never really had them in the first place. Leslie doesn't care about the "truth" which is the big difference between her and Lois. Lois can be headstrong, willful, and outright rude, but it's all in service of her pursuit of higher ideals. Livewire doesn't care about that, she carries about getting people to pay attention to her, and getting the recognition and wealth she believes she's owed.

What I'd Do With Livewire

It wasn't until I had that big realization about Leslie that I figured out what role she should play with regards to Clark: She should be Clark's old college ex who was the one who got him into journalism in the first place.

Clark's college years are unexplored territory narratively, typically we jump from his childhood in Smallville right into his debut in Metropolis. Now I know Clark dated Lori that mermaid back in Pre-Crisis during his college years, and while that's a fun bit of trivia, it doesn't really add anything meaningful in the same way that I think Leslie and Clark dating could. So I'd rather go with Leslie because I think she makes for a better foil for Clark and because the two of them would benefit from having a deeper connection established, plus Leslie could get fleshed out as a character more.

I like the explanation that Clark chose journalism in part because it challenges him in ways his powers can't, but in the comics they've rarely bothered to explain how he chose that field in the first place. I would have meeting Leslie at college be that big moment where he starts to figure himself out. She's assertive and confident, and Clark is attracted to that for similar reasons he's attracted to Lois. Leslie would start out as an optimist and idealist in the same way Clark is, and the two would bond and go into journalism together, with Leslie being the one who really believes in the field initially. They'd both be big believers in the duty of the press to inform and the presses ability to shape public opinion, with Clark attracted to investigative journalism and Leslie attracted more to broadcast and digital journalism. They start to date and for a moment, Clark seriously wonders if this is the one.

The big break between them comes when Clark and Leslie go on a trip around the world during their senior year of college. That trip would be where both of them learn how crappy the world is. Clark always had some idea of how bad things were because of his powers, but the trip is where he really starts to realize that there is a real need for someone of his powers to step up, and that there are hard limits to just how much he can accomplish as a member of the press. That same realization is what shatters Leslie's idealism and optimism. She loses faith in the ability to make a difference, to punch through the wall of public indifference, and as a result she gives up that dream. Instead she decides that if you can't beat them, join them: she switches instead to telling the masses what the powers that be want them to hear in exchange for money, to saying whatever the masses will give her attention and prestige for, embracing tabloid journalism that prioritizes clicks and engagement over information. Ultimately it destroys the relationship between Leslie and Clark with her viewing him as a sap and him viewing her as a sellout.

I think that origin really would help flesh out her worldview and motivation a lot more. She's a former idealist who has been broken by the world in a similar way to Poison Ivy. Leslie thus acts as a foil to Clark and Lois in that she's someone who let the world rob her of her idealism and sold out on the truth in exchange for material success. She's what Clark or Lois could've been if they took Lex's offer to work for him, and they should recognize that to some degree. Clark should have conflicting feelings for her, not romantically that relationship is dead, but in terms of sometimes he wonders if he's just wasting his life trying to fight for truth and justice. So few people seem to care about those principles, why hold on so tight to them? Why not just look out for his own self-interest the way everyone else seems to? It's the refusal to give up even when it looks pointless that makes the two of them different, and makes Clark a hero and Livewire a villain.

How I'd Like Livewire To Operate

There's a lack of imagination in how Livewire is used on the comic side as I see it.

Like most Superman Rogues the typical Superman writer doesn't seem to have a clue what to do with her beyond generic "villain" stuff, but that does a disservice to what Livewire brings to the table. Livewire does want to fry Superman to a crisp, but that's not what her daily goal is to accomplish. More importantly, she wants respect and she wants money, and the way she gets both is not by trying to rob banks, it's by leaning into her background as a media personality combined with her new powers. Unleashing electric bolts is honestly the least impressive part of her powerset in terms of her ability to manipulate anything and everything technology.

The Internet? Livewire can crash the entire thing with ease, or restrict access to portions of it. She can do the reverse and smash through firewalls and encryption like it's made of paper. Imagine Livewire shutting off the power grid or causing it to explode, secretly using your "smart" tech to record your every move, uploading ransomware to every piece of technology in Metropolis, emptying the bank accounts of anyone who annoys her, or bringing Metropolis to it's knees thanks to the "City of Tomorrow" being a test ground for the Internet of Things, so everything is connected and thus easily manipulated. Smart cars crash into each other, elevators randomly drop, trains are unable to stop and simply accelerate onward unceasingly, plans attempting to land find their instruments on the fritz, anything and everything is Livewire's to control. But terrorism, while entertaining and occasionally profitable, isn't Livewire's main focus either.

One of my favorite Superman Adventures stories with her had Livewire manipulating TV broadcast signals so that any time there was a male news reporter on screen, the signal wouldn't come through. Stuff like that, where Livewire is making life hell for people in a way that isn't immediately life-threatening is what I envision as her day to day operations, but her bread and butter is fake news. What Livewire is REALLY good at doing is manipulating the public due to her journalism background plus her powers. She can make fake videos that look totally authentic, fake articles that seem to come from credible sources, fake voice recordings, she can make anyone appear to do or say anything through the Internet, and then she can upload that to the devices of every single person in Metropolis.

You can get stories about the mayor being framed for taking bribes, local activists cast as grifters, and supposed upstanding citizens such as Lois Lane and Clark Kent appearing to take orders from criminals like Intergang on what stories to run. Basically you lean into the journalism aspect for Livewire stories where Clark and Lois have to investigate to see whether what Livewire is putting out there is fake or legit, with peoples lives and reputations at stake (including frequently their own).

And when Superman and Livewire actually do clash physically? I don't care how it gets justified, Livewire simply being that powerful, her lightning being "special", she has the ability to manipulate Superman's bioelectric field, whatever: she can hurt him. When she hits Supes with lightning, it burns. It's painful as all hell. Livewire needs to be a threat and I'd like her to be treated as a powerhouse since I don't see a reason why that shouldn't be the case. Livewire is a really cool Rogue, there's a reason she's managed to keep getting used long after the DCAU ended. I hope the comics creators start utilizing her to her full potential.

[pricetagofficial]

Interstellar -Part One

Warnings: Violence, angst, language, snark, 

Masterlist

Word Count: 3.7K

Tag List: @kishony-the-geek @unknowntoanyone @subtleappreciation @catxsnow @screennamealreadyused @river-bottom-nightmare @woahjaybird @bikoncon @arestorationofbalance @littleredwing89​ @offendedfishnoises​ @lostoctaviaaugusta​

A/N: Here is the first part of Interstellar! I hope you enjoy it!!

Part One

Three Years Later

“Y/N! Quick, take out that fleet over there!” a voice cried from her side.

Turning where she floated, Y/N saw a fleet of ships aiming their missiles at the planet she and the rest of the Star Sapphires were fighting to protect. Looking at the woman next to her, Y/N gave her a nod and took off in a flash of violet and took out each ship one by one.

It didn’t take long for the ships to notice that she was attacking them, and began to aim their missiles at her instead of the planet. Quickly, she put up a large shield to protect herself from the onslaught of missiles and blaster beams.

With a yell, Y/N shot herself at the ships and tore them apart piece by piece until they were only floating scraps left to drift in space for the rest of eternity. Looking around, she could see the rest of the Star Sapphires fighting to stop the invasion of their home planet. They should have seen this coming; it was common knowledge that the Star Sapphires had enemies and powerful ones at that. But it was also common knowledge that they were about as ruthless as it came when they were fighting especially when it was to protect the home they loved deeply.

It had been three years to the date, on Earth at least, since she was chosen by the violet ring that rested on her right hand. It was also the three-year anniversary since the death of Jackson Luthor, the man she thought to be the love of her life. It was her love for him that fueled her to fight the good fight and protect those who had also loved and lost like she had.

As long as she had love in her heart, Y/N was a near unstoppable force. She was one of the most powerful members of the corps, behind Carol and Fatality. Between the three of them, nothing could stand in their way.

It had been almost a year since she stopped in Metropolis, the memory of Jackson was still too painful to bear and being in his hometown where his monster of a father caused more issues than he fixed only made it hurt more. Since Jackson died, Lex was able to get away with more and more secret operations. When Jackson was alive, he kept a good eye on the family company and made sure that everything was used for the purposes they were made.

Several acquaintances of her that were part of the Green Lantern Corps, had regular run ins with Lex with the time they served with the Justice League to protect the planet and other systems across the universe from intergalactic threats.

Letting out a huff, Y/N constructed a large harpoon and shot it at the nearest ship that was attacking one of the other members. Keeping her grip on the violet chain, she shot forward and swung the ship attached to the harpoon into nearby ships making them explode.

“Always the show off, aren’t you?” Carol said, floating up beside her.

“You should know me by now Carol, I don’t hold back in a fight.” She grinned and flew off towards another squad of ships, taking them out with a massive ax as Y/N swung it around slicing each ship into multiple pieces.

“Why don’t you assholes go back to whatever hole you crawled out of?” she shouted, taking out the last ship in the area.

Between Y/N and the other Star Sapphire Lanterns, most of the fleet had been destroyed. The remaining ships turned around and began to disappear into the vast expanse of space, the Star Sapphire Corps letting out a cheer of victory.

One by one, everyone began to fly back towards Zamaron to celebrate their newest victory but Y/N stayed afloat above the planet below her. Her initial plan was to head back to Earth for a couple days, that being her true home. She could check up on Rita and see how she was doing, and even stop by her parent’s place.

“Are you not going to join the festivities?” one of the other lanterns asked, stopping in front of Y/N.

She shook her head, “Not this time. I had previous engagements; I’ll see you soon.” Y/N smiled and took off across the galaxy and made her way towards Earth. Her vision was filled with various stars and planets as she zoomed past them, the excellence of space not lost on her one bit.

Y/N’s favorite thing about being a Star Sapphire Lantern was that she got to see things normal humans did not. The simple fact that she could travel into space without dying was amazing on its own, but she also got to see different planets and how they lived their day to day lives.

Within half an hour, she was hovering above Earth. This had been the closest she had been to home in a long time. In the distance, Y/N could see the Watchtower in orbit around the blue and green planet. There was a good chance that several league members were on board, even possibly Hal or one of the Green Lanterns that came from Earth.

A smile spread across her face as she flew closer to her home planet, heading for Metropolis. As she entered the atmosphere at a blinding speed, Y/N flew closer and closer to the Earth’s surface. It felt good to be back on Earth.

As she got closer, Y/N saw a blur of red as she passed through Central City. Thinking the worst, she stopped and created a violet wall to block the path of whoever it was. Her first thought was that a Red Lantern had made its way to Earth, and if that was true, she would need to call reinforcements and fast.

Whoever it was, ran face first into the wall she had created and had fallen backwards onto his ass. Y/N let out a sigh of relief once she noticed that it was not what she feared. Instead, it seemed to be a human dressed in red, with his hair almost the same shade as his suit.

“What the hell was that?” the person rubbed his head as he sat up from the floor and looked up to see Y/N standing there staring down at his as her hair waved in the wind. “And who the hell are you?”

Letting out a scoff at his words, Y/N crossed her arms and stared down at him. “You should have looked where you were going, maybe then you wouldn’t have run into it.”

“Oh, yes because I should be on the look out for giant violet walls in the middle of nowhere!” he snapped getting to his feet. He looked her over more and his eye caught the sight of the glowing violet ring on her hand and put the pieces together.

Hal had mentioned that there were more Lantern Corps out there, but they typically didn’t hang around Earth and to his knowledge Carol was the only Star Sapphire from Earth. So, where the hell was this girl in front of him from and who was she?

Y/N stared him down the longer he looked her over. She wasn’t sure what it was that he was thinking, but the way he was looking at her, like he was trying to figure her out irritated her. “If you don’t stop looking at me, I will flatten you with a giant mallet.” She threatened, the white lenses over her eyes narrowing at him.

The man in front of her seemed to get the hint and raised his hands. “Hey, I was just trying to make sense of things. No need to get pissed at me babe.”

“Don’t call me babe.”

“Whatever you say sweetheart, do you know any of the Green Lanterns from around here?” he asked.

Y/N let out an unamused huff and landed softly on the floor in front of him. “If I did, I wouldn’t tell you. I don’t know you and you don’t need to know anything about me. Let’s keep it that way.” She snapped. “And maybe pick a new color. Red isn’t all that flattering with the hair.”

The man let out an undignified noise at her comment and could only stare as she flew away towards the Eastern Seaboard. If he really wanted to, he could have caught up to her but Central City needed him more. Maybe he would meet this crazy woman again someday and actually catch her name.

**

The rest of the flight to Metropolis was quiet, and Y/N was thankful for it. One encounter was enough for her, and even though that guy seemed to be a hero she knew that you couldn’t trust anyone immediately.

Her feet landed softly on the top of the skyscraper as she powered down her ring. Y/N’s violet suit faded away and was replaced with her normal civilian clothes. Y/N L/N didn’t spend much time on Earth, but when she did she was an archeologist. When she was off world, her cover was that she was away excavating ruins all around the world.

The only thing was, she would have to stick around long enough for her bosses to not fire her. The only reason they hadn’t was because she was the best in the field and had resources to dig up some of the most priceless artifacts.

With the constructs her ring could make, there was almost nothing she couldn’t do.

Adjusting her jacket, Y/N walked down the stairs that led from the roof to her apartment floor and opened her door. Rita was going to be over in a couple of hours and this year it was Y/N’s turn to make dinner. It was a tradition that she would meet with Rita on the anniversary of Jackson’s death and have a wonderful dinner. It had always been the two of them, but the invitation was also open for Lex. He was Jackson’s father after all, it wasn’t just Y/N and Rita who had lost someone that day.

Walking over to her fridge, she pulled the door open and let out a sigh. That’s right, she hadn’t been home at Metropolis in almost a year; of course her fridge was empty. Shutting the door, she grabbed her keys and left her apartment and went to the closet grocery store. If she was lucky, Y/N could find a simple and easy meal before the store closed.

The trip to the store was a quick walk, it was just down the street after all. Y/N knew that it was practically pointless to keep an apartment on Earth since she was in space so often, but her civilian identity couldn’t just fall off the face of the Earth. People would be looking for her, and she didn’t want to cause that kind of stress on anyone else. Y/N just simply didn’t have a reason to stay on Earth, but she wasn’t exactly looking for one. Carol came back because she had a life here along with her on again, off again relationship with Hal but Y/N had nothing like that. Since Jackson died, she removed herself from society.

Reaching out to pull open the door, Y/N was pushed back by someone pushing the same door back into her. Stumbling to keep her balance, she felt a hand reach out to grab onto hers to keep her from falling onto the hard concrete.

“Fuck, I am so sorry.” The voice said, helping Y/N back onto her feet.

Looking up, she saw that it was a guy not much taller than she was. He had flaming red hair and the brightest green eyes to contrast it. His face was adorned with freckles, complete with a mischievous look to his smile.

“Are you alright gorgeous?” he asked, tilting his head while juggling all of his snacks.

Y/N gave him a nod and smiled softly. “Yeah, thanks for the catch.”

“I’d feel terrible if I let a pretty girl fall to the floor.” He commented. “I’m Wally.”

Noticing that she were still holding his hand, Y/N shook it with a laugh. “Y/N.”

Wally let go of Y/Ns hand and shuffled through is snacks and before finding what he was looking for and held it out to her. “Shall I offer my pepperoni stick to you?” he questioned, trying to hide the grin forming on his face.

Biting her lip to fight the smile forming on her face, Y/N shook her head. “You need to take me to dinner before I even think about touching it.”

Wally’s eyes narrowed in amusement, unable to hide the laughter bubbling up inside him. “I have a feeling we are no longer on the same page here.” he chuckled. “But I might take you up on that offer?”

An unfamiliar feeling bubbled up inside Y/N, it was something she hadn’t felt in years. Before she knew it, Y/N was writing her number down on a slip of paper and giving it to him. “I tend to be out of town a lot, but maybe I’ll stick around for a date or two?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Yeah sure, I’ll be sure to give you a call beautiful.” He winked before walking off towards a car that was waiting for him.

Y/N tried to hide her amused smile hearing Wally’s friends make fun of him for the encounter he just shared with her, saying that she ‘was a catch’ and ‘how does he always get the good ones?’. It didn’t bother her all that much, the possibility of Wally actually going through with it and calling her was slim. She just hoped that she would be on world when he decided to.

Looking at the time, Y/N let out a loud swear before taking off into the store to buy a quick and easy dinner to make. What was she doing, it was the anniversary of Jackson’s death and she was possibly getting a date with another guy? Y/N felt like she was insulting the memory of the man she loved. She knew that she would eventually move on, but Y/N was unsure what would happen once she did.

The power of the ring on her left had was powered solely by love, her love for Jackson more specifically. Would she lose her powers if she fell for someone else? Would her love be weaker than it was? The possibilities were endless and most of them were not good.

Dashing through the check out, Y/N eyes the slim jims and laughed to herself. She knew very well that Wally’s offer was innocent enough but she couldn’t help picking on him. Paying for her stuff, Y/N left the store bidding the cashiers a good night.

The sun was setting, a warm orange glow covering the sky with the clouds tainted a beautiful pink. The area was calm and serene, Metropolis was one of the safest cities to live in and that was because of it’s protector Superman.

That wasn’t to say that the other members of the Justice League were useless, but their cities were more crime ridden and there was an existential fear of going out after dark. Almost no crime happened in Metropolis once the sun was down in comparison to Gotham or even Blüdhaven. Those two cities were the most unsafe at night, even with the great and scary Batman watching over with his team of Robins, past and present.

Y/N had only ever met the Bat once, and it was to stop another invasion attempt from yet another alien species. Earth seemed to be a constant target for alien attacks, and Y/N was normally off world when they happened.

As if fate heard her thoughts, something flew through the sky, catching the attention of her and everyone else around her. That was most definitely not human made.

“Well shit.” It looked like dinner with Rita was going to have to wait. Even though she wasn’t part of the League, let alone Earth’s roster of heroes, she couldn’t just sit by and do nothing while he hometown was attacked.

On cue, several more ships soared by and began firing at buildings nearby sending bits of glass and debris into the air. All around her, people began running inside to hide from whatever was happening. Nothing could be heard above the screaming of the citizens and the firing of the ships.

Dropping all the groceries to the floor, Y/N took off behind the building into a secluded alley and powered up her ring. Her clothes were encased in the familiar violet light before her suit materialized and she began to float above the ground by a few inches. Her mask was the last thing to appear, her hair pushed back out of her face.

Feeling ready for a fight, Y/N grinned and shot off across the sky towards the closest ships and block its blasts with a shield construct.

Taking off in a streak of violet light, Y/N flew right through several of the ships and watched as they crashed to the floor. A flash of red dashed around the ground before coming up the building and stopping on top of one next to her.

“Could you at least pretend to care about the people below you?” he asked waving his hands in the air.

“No one should be outside! Besides, you got them to safety.” She snapped. “Now are you going to sit there and keep complaining or do something for once?”

The annoyance on his face made Y/N laugh as she flew off, taking down more ships as she passed them. It was the same guy from earlier that day and she had yet to learn his name.

“Hey Lightning McQueen! Want to give me a hand?” she hollered, holding a ship captive in a large violet rope.

Looking up to what she was doing, Flash grinned and got into a stance. He may not be her biggest fan, but that didn’t mean that he still couldn’t have fun kicking alien ass. “Bring it on sweetheart!”

With a grin, Y/N swung the small ship towards him as Flash broke into a sprint and bursted through it at the speed of light, sending bits of metal all over the place.

Letting out a laugh, Flash looked around and smiled. “That was fun, let’s do it again.”

Y/N let out a chuckle, looking over she saw another figure floating not that far from her. She should have known that Superman would make an appearance, after all this was his home town.

“Hey Supes! Watch out!” she cried and launched herself at the alien ship coming up on his side. Ripping it to shreds with a large sword made from her ring, Y/N turned around and looked at both Superman and Flash. “Do you have any idea where these came from?”

“None, I have colleagues looking into it as we speak. I’m assuming that you don’t recognize them either?” Superman asked.

Y/N shook her head. “I’ve only been in town for an hour, two at max. All I wanted was a simple dinner and these assholes decided to show up.”

“Well, don’t stop fighting yet. We still have a ways to go before this is over.” He said. “You two keep an eye on this part of town, I’ll keep watch on the western side.” Y/N and Flash didn’t get another word in before Superman took off at a blinding speed across town.

Y/N and Flash gave each other a look. “Try to keep up Speedy.” She grinned before taking off down the street to fight off more ships that were entering the city limits.

“My name’s not Speedy! That was someone else!” he yelled and followed after her, running up and down buildings to not only stop the ships within his reach but keep various civilians safe.

Y/N wasn’t used to fighting on Earth where there were so many casualties, that her actions were careless when it came to taking down each ship. Flash spent most of his time following after her and cleaning up the path of destruction that was left in her wake.

“Any word from Supes yet?” he called, pulling to a stop on the top of a skyscraper.

Y/N shook her head, throwing a large hammer at another incoming ship. “I haven’t heard anything yet. He might be a little busy.”

“Star, Flash, incoming.”

Both Y/N and Flash looked to see where the voice was coming from and saw a flash of green light take out two ships that they hadn’t noticed yet.

“Nice to see you G, how’s it been?” Y/N asked, watching as Green Lantern pulled up beside her.

“You know the usual, stopping an alien attack. Just the average Tuesday.” He chuckled. “How’s Carol? It’s been a while since she’s been around. Thought you were her until I saw the giant hammer.”

He did have a point. Between Carol and Y/N, Y/N was the one with a better sense of humor and it showed in the constructs she made. Carol always had a more serious disposition while Y/N was always looking for a laugh.

Y/N gave him a shrug. “Wanna play some baseball?” she grinned.

Green Lantern’s grin matched her own. “Flash, Batman sent me to get you. I’ll stay here with Star and clean up shop here.”

At his words, Flash took off down the street when Y/N stopped a ship mid air and held it up.

“Batter up!” she called.

Green Lantern made a large baseball bat and got into a batter’s stance, ready to hit a homerun. “Pitch it to me good Star.” He laughed, swinging the bat once she threw the ship towards him.

The satisfying sound of metal exploding on impact rung through the air as the debris showered down around them.

Between the two of them playing baseball, the southern part of town was kept safe. Slowly, the number of ships dwindled as the two lanterns took them out. It wasn’t until Green Lantern got a transmission from one of the members of the Justice League that they found out the attack was over.

“Bats wants to meet up at the Watchtower.” He spoke up. “Both of us.”

Y/N opened her mouth to protest when he held out his hand to stop her. “When Batman says something, don’t argue with him.” And with that, he took off towards the closest zeta-tube with Y/N following hesitantly.

Stopping in front of an old telephone booth, Green Lantern put in the coordinates and a guest pass for Y/N. Watching it open, Y/N followed him into the blinding light.

[oreoambitions]

Part 8 of 12

Parts 1-3 // Part 4 // Part 5 // Part 5.5 // Part 6 // Part 7 // Ao3

Lena sits in the passenger seat of her own car with the window rolled down, listening to some old tune from the 60's tumbling so softly out of the speakers she almost can't quite catch it. The forest passes by at a pace that would feel unbearably slow if she were the one behind the wheel. Which, of course, is precisely why she isn't.

Alex has gone after Kara. That much was inevitable the moment Kara left the wedding ceremony, the moment Sam's arms closed around Lena to hold her up, the moment Clark cocked his head to one side and announced quietly that Kara was in the air. Not just storming off then; good and properly leaving. Alex was grim faced and apologetic and lingered just long enough to be sure that Lena was going to be okay.

"I'm fine," Lena said what felt like a hundred thousand times.

"You're not," Sam replied, faithfully, tirelessly.

And Lena wasn't. But it didn't feel like there was any reason to talk about it.

Nia stayed behind to make sure everything was in order at the cabin before checkout in the morning. Sam went with Alex, and that felt inevitable too. She claimed it was for Alex's comfort, but Lena recognized the telltale signs of upset in the set of Sam's shoulders, in the crease of her brow, and she knew that in truth it was the other way around. Sam and Kara have grown close these past few months; the sudden rift between the two of them is painful for Sam and Lena knows it.

But Sam wouldn't have gone if it'd meant leaving Lena alone, which is how Lena has come to be seated beside a pensive Clark, traveling at precisely the speed limit down a winding mountain road, headed for home.

Clark drums his fingers on the steering wheel, not quite in time with the music, his gaze lingering on Lena for long enough that she'd be snapping at him to keep his eyes on the road if he were anyone else. Lena turns her face into the wind and fidgets in silence.

"Kara..." Clark begins. He drums his fingers over the steering wheel again. It's been half an hour of empty, tense quiet between the two of them, and Lena can't fathom why they're deviating from that uncomfortable but predictable norm now. "She's a very religious person," Clark says.

The single, soft note of laughter that comes out of Lena surprises them both. "I know," she replies. How could she not know something like that? Something as inherent to Kara as blonde hair and blue eyes and a kindness deeper than the sea.

"On Krypton we believed that speech itself was a gift from Rao, that the language itself was sacred."

Lena knows this too, wonders idly whether Krpyton always had one language or if there's an unspoken history of conquest there, says nothing as they trundle across an old single lane bridge over a ravine that might once have been a river, might be a river again when the drought passes.

Clark is still speaking. "There's no hard and fast rule about sharing the Book of Rao with the uninitiated - all of Krypton was initiated, you understand, so there was no need for a rule - but there was always a certain guardedness about it around alien visitors, even back then. And now that Argo is the last bastion of our civilization, folks are feeling more guarded than before. The sacred texts were Rao's gift to us. There was a big debate among the council about whether even Sam and Ruby should be taught, as outsiders."

"Was there a big debate about you?" The words are out of Lena's mouth before she can really think about them. Clark glances at her sideways and she looks away.

"The House of El is an important noble family," he says at last. His voice sounds tired.

"I remember. That's why they want Kara to marry that boy from Argo."

"Wanted. She belongs to you now; nothing they can do about that."

Lena shivers in spite of herself. She runs her thumb thoughtfully over her wedding bracelet, rolls the broken thread between her fingers. Mixed in with the guilt and the sadness is a streak of satisfaction: no one on Argo can force Kara to leave Earth behind now, and no one can force her to marry a stranger. She tries not to wonder whether Kara considers being bound to her just as distasteful.

"She doesn't think I understood what I said to her at the ceremony. What I was doing," Lena says. It isn't a question but she still hopes Clark will answer her, will tell her that she's wrong, will provide some other explanation. She's disappointed when he remains silent. "She thinks I copied her traditions out of a book as a silly... as an aesthetic. She thinks I played dress-up with something sacred, and she blames Sam."

Clark glances at her again. "But you didn't. I would have put a stop to this days ago if I'd thought you were taking this any less seriously than Kara."

"But Kara doesn't know that."

"She doesn't," Clark agrees. And then, "I'm sorry. I know how Kara feels about the Book, and maybe I should have warned you off. But I thought... I thought she would see how you felt about her, and it would ease things."

Lena's stomach flips. She runs her thumb over the wedding band again, her eyes far away. The woods are fading now. Soon it will be the hills, and then the suburbs, and then the city. The everyday bustle of the corporate world will assert itself and Lena will have to be able to set this all aside, to sweep it into the corners of her life where it isn't in the way. As if Kara could ever be in the way. As if Lena could ever move a feeling as heavy as this out of center stage. She has a feeling she's going to do a lot of drinking tonight.

"I'm going to prove to her that I meant those vows," she says. It's her turn to glance at Clark then, gauging his reaction. To her surprise, there's the ghost of a smile across his lips.

"Of course," he replies. "I wouldn't expect anything less. If you- Kara describes you as a very thorough person; you've never given me reason to believe otherwise."

Lena inclines her head. You have to be thorough to survive Lilian and Lex; loose strings tend to become weapons in their hands. She fiddles with the all too real loose string on her wrist. "Do I do something with this?"

"What? No. That- You can just throw that away. Any thorough understanding of a topic must be grounded in context. To take something out of its context is to risk subverting its meaning." He drums his fingers across the steering wheel again, and Lena tries not to squirm, tries not to anticipate where this is going. "We're not an evangelical people; you can't convert someone to our religion; you were either born in the light of Rao or you weren't."

Lena raises her eyebrows. "No one is born in the light of Rao anymore. What does that mean for your religion?"

Clark opens his mouth as if to answer, frowns, closes it again. "That's a terrifying thought and a conversation for another time. What I'm trying to say is there's no rule against giving you the Book of Rao just as there's no precedent for it. So if you'd like a copy... Sam would have to help you read it, or I could, if you'd be comfortable. But-"

"It should be Kara," Lena interrupts.

"Sorry?"

"If I ever read the Book of Rao, it should be with Kara. To do otherwise feels... It feels like going behind her back." There's a long silence between them, and then Lena adds, "But I would love to have a copy. For when she's ready. Thank you."

"Of course. You're family; the Book belongs to you as much as it does to me, if you want it."

Lena turns the word 'family' over in her mind. She tugs the thread from her wedding band, balls it up between her fingers, tucks it into the handle pocket of the passenger's side door. Loose ends. "We've never talked about the history between your family and mine."

Clark doesn't glance at her this time. He keeps his eyes firmly on the road, his jaw set, and Lena wonders which of a thousand awful encounters with Lex he's recalling now. And then he takes a deep breath and the tension bleeds from his expression. "We don't have to talk about it," he says. "Kara made it clear a long time ago that you weren't like the others. And I know we still have a long road ahead of us getting to know one another, but Lena, I don't see Lex when I look at you."

"Thank you," Lena whispers.

Clark reaches over to squeeze her shoulder. "And there is no 'your family and mine' anymore. I mean it. Kara and I are the same blood. You and Kara are the same blood. By the transitive property..."

"A = C," Lena says, chuckling to cover the lump that has suddenly risen in her throat. "Thank you for the refresher on elementary algebra."

"Just doing my part," Clark says with a chuckle of his own. The forest has become shrubbery, the hills rising deep and gold around them, dotted here and there with wildflowers. "She loves you, you know," Clark says. As though it were a simple thing. As though he were commenting on the weather.

Lena reaches for the stereo to turn up a song she doesn't recognize. "This one is one of my favorites," she tells him, her voice breaking just a little, and she turns her face again into the wind. That ghost of a smile flickers across Clark's features, and he clicks the volume up a few ticks higher.